too loverly to eat

GBBO Technical Challenge No. 1 – Frosted Walnut Layer Cake

It’s that time of year again – the Great British Bake Off has started and each Wednesday evening we can look forward to some baking entertainment on TV! Last year we tried to make a few of the technical challenges, but we ran out of time, so this year between the two of us, we are hoping to attempt most of them. This week it was Mary Berry’s frosted walnut layer cake.

The recipe can be found here – Mary’s Frosted Walnut Layer Cake. The cake was simple to make and having watched the programme I made sure my walnuts were chopped nice and finely so they were evenly distributed. The cakes baked really well and were lovely and light. I don’t think I have every made caramel before, so I was keen to give it a go and it worked 1st time – beginners luck! I coated extra walnuts in the caramel so there were a few extra to check they tasted ok!

From the feedback most of the contestants received I made sure that my frosting was whisked for enough time to allow all the sugar to dissolve – which took a while as I don’t have an electric whisk that I can use while heating the bowl – so I had to ask my hubby for a bit of help when my arms got tired! I wasn’t sure it was thick enough, it still looked quite runny when I spread it over the cake, but it was perfect and didn’t run off the cake like I thought it might.

My husband took the cake into work and he now has some very happy colleagues who can’t wait for next weeks challenge!